As personal computers have proliferated over the past fifteen years, resulting in a decentralization of computing power, communication links such as networks to interconnect personal computers have also proliferated in order to permit the personal computers to easily share information. Since many of the computers on a network need to use the same application program or access the same data files, it is inefficient to provide a large hard disk drive in each computer to store essentially redundant information. Instead, it has become common to provide at least one personal computer on the network which is known as a server and has one or more hard disk drives of very large capacity, the remaining personal computers having relatively small hard disk drives or having no hard disk drives.
When the server is turned on, it may be necessary for a user to use the video display and keyboard of the server to bring up and start the server software. Further, if a hard disk drive in the server is replaced or removed, or if a new hard disk drive is added, a substantial amount of interaction by a sophisticated operator is required to reconfigure the server and return it to a normal operational mode. Similarly, substantial interaction by a knowledgeable operator is necessary if the server is connected to a further communication link such as a network or is disconnected from one of several communication links. The keyboard and display of the server are also utilized by a user to back up the data on the disk drives of the server for archive purposes.
While servers of this type have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects. In particular, the need for the operator to be highly trained is inconvenient, and the time and effort required for an operator to bring the server up to an operational mode and to reconfigure the server after adding, removing or changing a component is inefficient. Moreover, the need for the server to have a keyboard and display in order to allow an operator to perform all these functions makes the server itself a relatively expensive unit.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a dedicated server unit which is capable of automatically and efficiently detecting the devices present in it and the networks or communication links to which it is connected, and of automatically configuring its software to operate in a manner compatible with the devices and the networks or links detected. This would permit these tasks to be completed quickly and rapidly without the time or potential for error associated with a human operator, while avoiding the need to have someone available with the knowledge and skills to deal with the relatively complex tasks of configuring the system.
Since user interaction would be unnecessary, a further object would be to eliminate the keyboard and video display normally present on a server unit, thereby permitting a substantial reduction in the cost of the server unit.
A further object, since the dedicated server unit will have no user interface, is to provide a way of easily and efficiently backing up the data in the server unit from a remote computer on the network or communication link, and backing up data in the remote computer through the server unit.
A further object is to provide such a dedicated server unit which can be simultaneously connected to two or more or communication links, and which can effect communication with each using a conventional driver program designed to operate with only a single network.